Learning pathways during clinical placement of physiotherapy students: a Malaysian experience of using learning contracts and reflective diaries

PURPOSE Learning contracts and reflective diaries are educational tools that have been recently introduced to physiotherapy students from Malaysia during clinical education. It is unclear how students perceive the experience of using a learning contract and reflective diary. This study explores the learning pathways of the students after using a learning contract and a reflective diary for the first time in their clinical placement. METHODS A total of 26 final-year physiotherapy students completed a learning contract and a reflective diary during clinical placements. Two researchers explored the data qualitatively by the thematic content analysis method using NVivo. RESULTS A total of four and six main learning themes were identified from the data of the students through a learning contract and reflective diary. CONCLUSION These learning themes reflected the views of the students about what they have considered to be important learning pathways during their clinical placements. They give valuable insights into the experiences and opinions of students during their clinical education process, which should be useful for enhancing teaching and learning methods in physiotherapy education.